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Mauricio Pochettino’s spirits were lifted during the international break, having felt “dead” after Tottenham’s defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.
A difficult season for Spurs plunged new depths when they followed up a 7-2 humiliation at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on October 1 by losing 3-0 at Brighton in the Premier League four days later.
Pochettino was downbeat at the start of the international break, during which he travelled to the Aspire Global Summit in Qatar and addressed several ex-professionals.
But ahead of hosting Watford on Saturday, the former Southampton boss was able to consider a more positive outlook.
“We had an offer a few months ago to go to Aspire,” he told a news conference. “I was talking there for one and a half hours, in front of 100 people, 50 clubs.
TEAM NEWS:
🔹 @ChrisEriksen8 (leg) – suffered a dead leg on international duty and being assessed.
🔹 Hugo Lloris – continues to be monitored and assessed.#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/oJ8iAGYQJL
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 17, 2019
“All the big clubs in the world were there, ex-team-mates like [Santiago] Solari, Hernan Crespo, people I met like Tim Cahill – now I have a very good view of him, it was amazing to spend time with him.
“It was like a medicine. We flew at 8am on Sunday [after Brighton on the Saturday] and I was dead. Jesus [Perez, his assistant], too.
“We arrived and it was difficult to find the energy and then to talk about Tottenham and our ideas and philosophy and football. It was most difficult thing, but we found the energy.
“It was a football drama, not a life drama. We lose a few games. Most important is to not go away, most important is to face the problems and find a solution.”
Despite a poor run that has left Tottenham ninth, Pochettino insists his faith in his players is unwavering.
“In this type of situation, the most important thing is to be all together and show a strong face to the problems,” he said.
“Face the problems and talk a lot because the most important thing is that players feel support and trust from the manager. That belief is important.
“I trust 200 per cent in them and believe that they have the capacity and potential to win the games and turn this situation around. This type of situation happens at all clubs sooner or later.
“We have confidence that we have the quality. It is only a matter of time to make things clear. We need to help them perform because they are the principal actors on the pitch who will provide the victories.”
